On this day in 1999 I started my business. This has been a long crazy journey. I have made a ton of mistakes and learned business by getting my MBA through the school of hard knocks. That being said here I sit on the day I started my company 12 years ago and I look back. Those last 12 years were defining years and I learned all I could every second of the day. Now looking forward I am excited at where I am right now and what the future holds.

Lucky 13 has started out with a bang. We are doing better work for our clients than ever before. We are building stronger relationships with our clients and a few vendors than we ever had before. All of this leads to a pretty bright future. This is looking to be a record year for Brandwise and we hope to take several of you with us on this journey.

I like to thank all our clients over the years for all the great work you allowed us to do for you. People like Drew at HMA, Ed & Amy at BDC, Joe at Empress, Rick and AstraZeneca, Stacey at Simple Moments, Tracy & Julia at Sundance Square, Ken at Enilon, Elizer at LibertyPower, Robert at Bourdage Consulting, Theril and Kristen at FloorPartners, Catherine at Jetta, Monique at The Garden Continuum and everyone else. You guys are great and helped make us what and who we are today!

Other people I'd like to thank are some great vendors & partners: Joe at Brenneman Printing, Tom at Martin & Co., Cam at Creative Business, Pete, Mike, Chris, Jordyne, Julie, Ellie and everyone else over at Hubspot, Frank and especially Rick at Kurlan. If it weren't for Rick, this year would be looking pretty glum.

Anyhow, if there is anyone we missed, sorry but we really do appreciate all of you.

13 Tips for others to reach great success:

find great partners that can help you learn areas you have not yet mastered

find vendors that want to build relationships and go out of their way to make you and your clients look good

be the kind of company that offers 110% and always goes above and beyond what is called for

be a 100% cash based business and use your money wisely

invest in yourself and your company on a regular basis

be an always learning company to stay ahead of your competitors

market like crazy and hire the best marketing firm you can afford when done right this will come back ten-fold

always seek to improve sales, the better you are at selling the more cash you can bring in for growth and stability

lead by example. if you want your clients to do something make sure you are doing it first

good is the enemy of great, never settle for less than greatness

be persistent, I really think persistence is the key to success so never give up

have fun, if your not having fun, it's just not worth it!

commit with all your heart, mind and body and you will reach your dreams

Those are some of the things that have helped us push into our 13th year. This is going to be a gang-buster year for us and we are very excited to have made it this far in the shape that we are in especially as 2008 to present have been some of the toughest for business in general. I'm very proud to come out better than ever on the other side of this weak economy.